Looking for a present for the gardener in your life? If you cant manage a partridge in a pear tree this Christmas, here are 12 equally fresh ideas, writes Emma Philbin Bowman

After seven years of nothing but red and white pressies, a lifelong supporter of a certain soccer team I knew finally erupted into a Ferguson-style rant. A sort of: “For God’s sake, please! No more Manchester United crap!” The trigger? Opening his third identical Man U wall clock.

Everyone has their own Manchester United wall clock to deal with each year, especially gardeners. Genuinely well-meaning buyers, who know nothing about gardening, will still manage to come up with one. So, here are 12 ideas — one for each day of Christmas — of what to get your green-fingered loved ones this year.

BOOKS

How to Propagate by John Cushnie

Cushnie’s book will save real money. It’s a guide to reproducing plants yourself by seed, grafting and other methods (€19.56 from Amazon.co.uk).

Seven Deadly Sins of Gardening: With the Vices and Virtues of Its Gardeners by Toby Musgrave